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Panthers Roll Continues with Sweep of Barry

Header pic: Dylan Owens

The stellar start to the season continued Saturday for the Florida Tech baseball team, as they won both games of the doubleheader 3-1, and 9-2, completing a weekend sweep of the Buccaneers at Seminick-Hall Field and running their win streak to 10.

Florida Tech (10-1, 3-0 SSC) won 7-4 on Friday night in the series opener and have not lost since opening day when they fell to Rollins, 7-2.

Saturday’s first game saw Mitchell Harding toe the rubber for the Panthers. He would give up a double and hit a batter in the first frame before getting out of the inning. Two more hitters would reach on a hit by pitch in the top of the third before he settled down.

Florida Tech’s offense would give him all the run support he would need in their half of the third. Jack Nagy singled and went to second on a wild pitch by Barry starter Arrison Perez. Jakob Newton singled to bring Nagy home with the first run. Newton would later score on an error and Dylan Owens would single to bring in the third run.

Harding (3-0) would go on to retire six in a row before walking the leadoff batter in the sixth inning. After a baserunner was picked off, Kevin Noriega would single and come home on a double by Matthew Menedez, getting the Bucs on the board.

Panthers coach Jeff Tam would call on Noah Steckley to take over for Harding, who went 5.2 innings, allowing three hits and one run. He struck out three and walked one, throwing 77 pitches.

Steckley would allow one hit and one walk in 2.1 innings. He struck out two, throwing 25 pitches. Alex Carpenter would then be called on to pitch the ninth and he nailed down the save, giving up one hit and throwing just 10 pitches. 

For more info: Barry @ Florida Tech Box Score (Game 1) 

Game two was decided in the field as the Buccaneers committed four errors in the second inning, leading to four Panthers runs without the benefit of a hit. That gave starter Justin Lorenz a nice cushion and Tech would continue to build on it in the fourth.

After two walks by Barry pitcher Jake Fishman, Anthony Boix would be called on out of the bullpen and things went from bad to worse for the Bucs. A wild pitch put runners at second and third and Sam Schner would hit a high chop back to Boix with nobody covering first to load the bases.

Newton’s RBI groundout later in the inning made it 5-0 and put runners at second and third for Dylan Dohanos. On a 1-2 count there was a pitch in the dirt that appeared to hit Dohanos who got up limping. 

Both runners came around to score, but after a lengthy discussion that lasted almost 15 minutes and involved coaches from both sides and umpires, it was decided that one run would count, making it 6-0. In a bit of karma, after the delay… Boix threw another wild pitch that allowed the seventh run to score anyway.

Lorenz (3-0) would pitch five innings without giving up a run. He did allow four hits and struck out four while walking two and throwing 79 pitches.

Barry (2-8, 0-3) would score twice in the top of the eighth against Panthers reliever Zach Rodgers

That score would hold until the bottom of the eighth. Schner doubled off another Barry reliever and Luca Wentzel would pinch-hit for Nagy and bring Schner around with the eighth run. Wentzel would later score on an error to make it 9-2.

For more info: Barry @ Florida Tech Box Score 

The Panthers will play the final game of their 12-game homestand to start the season on Wednesday, February 23 against Edward Waters. The first pitch is set for 6:00 p.m.